Some code inconsistencies and potential minor bugs

[akadlof]

Found a few minor issues in the code. Consider the use of a linter to automatically detect some of these.

• dates variable in new_collection function in storm_catalog.py can technically be used before assignment which would result in a crash
• string interpolation mistakes (storm_catalog.py line 558)
• use of open without specifying encoding
• use of built-in names like id and callable (storm_catalog.py line 204, transpose.py line 238)
• use of == None instead of is None
• consider using exception re-raising
• assignment of function with no return to variable
• missing docstrings
• unused variables
• unused imports
• missing parameter or return types
• consider using lazy formatting of logging strings to increase performance

[slawler]

Thanks @akadlof, updated these to be a checklist.

@sray can you please help address these?